Health

Carbohydrate metabolism in the course of intrahepatic cholestasis in pregnancy

Article Abstract:

Intrahepatic cholestasis is an interruption in the flow of bile caused by an abnormality in the liver. When the condition arises as a consequence of pregnancy, it is known as gestational intrahepatic cholestasis (GIC). One of the accompanying complications of GIC is altered metabolism of glucose, or blood sugar, in the red blood cells. The fetuses of mothers having GIC are usually born with a defect in a pathway for the metabolism of glucose. Routine laboratory tests used to detect diabetes mellitus, a disorder of sugar metabolism, were used to determine whether they would be effective in finding the defect of glucose metabolism in pregnant women with GIC. The three tests used to evaluate glucose metabolism include measurement of fasting and non-fasting blood glucose levels, glucose tolerance test (GTT) and a glycemia profile, measuring glucose over a 24-hour period. The screening tests were performed on 131 non-diabetic patients with gestational intrahepatic cholestasis. Higher levels of glucose were detected two hours after breakfast, after the GTT, and during the 24-hour glycemia profile. It was concluded that tests used to detect glucose metabolism in diabetes are useful for detecting poor glucose metabolism in women having gestational intrahepatic cholestasis.

Uterine transcriptomes of bacteria-induced and ovariectomy-induced preterm labor in mice are characterized by differential expression of arachidonate metabolism genes

Article Abstract:

The changes in gene expression that are associated with preterm labor induced by either bacteria or ovariectomy are identified and studied. The results have shown that bacteria-induced and ovariectomy-induced preterm labor each express a different balance of genes that are required for the synthesis of prostaglandins, lipoxins, leukotrienes and hydroxycicosatetraenoic acids.